


Graveyard

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Death of Shara Bey, Destruction Of A Ship, Drug Dealing, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Nothing Happens Until They’re Both of Age, Poe Dameron: Free Fall Predictions, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Would Hurt A Child, Young Ben Solo, Young Poe Dameron, at least with Zorii
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24741922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Ben Solo doesn’t know how, but he’s going to find Poe Dameron.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: Darkpilot Songbook





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Because I belatedly read the preview for Poe Dameron: Free Fall and... *Shrugs* It’s fantastic. I thought based on the blurb, “Oh God, This Is Gonna Suck”, especially considering I didn’t like TROS retconning Poe’s backstory and I was afraid the book would massively shit on the Damerons. But to my relief, the excerpt actually did really well. I mean, massive kudos to the author for (so far) taking a shit idea and trying to make something good out of it. I liked building up the relationship between Poe and Shara, to the point I developed some major mother-son feels. (Seriously, Shara should really get the Space Mom title) I cared about Poe, I thought his reason for fighting with his dad was actually in-character, and...yeah.
> 
> The excerpt’s here if you want to read it: https://www.ign.com/articles/read-the-first-chapter-of-star-wars-poe-dameron-free-fall
> 
> Beware of spoilers. And feels. 😉

”Poe! Thank the stars you’re all right!”

Poe knew that voice. Ben’s voice. He groaned; somehow he felt like his head had been split in half even as he forced his eyes to open, to look into the face of the young boy who was three years younger than him.

He sighed. “How did you even — ”

“The Force,” Ben said. “I felt it through the Force, so I bugged Uncle Luke to take a shuttle there. He was willing to do that.”

Poe looked around at everything else — everyone else. There was his father, who couldn’t seem to be able to look at Poe (someone had fired on his mother’s ship and somehow Poe was the bad guy in all this?), Senator Organa, looking disapproving...it really had just started out as a lark, and now...

”I’m sorry,” Poe said. 

”I’m just glad you’re not hurt,” Ben said. “Your mom’s ship, though...”

”What happened to it?” Poe said. 

Leia spoke up, sounding grim. Poe couldn’t make out a lot of what she said, actually; he could, though, make out stuff like “irreparable damage” and “ruined”.

”I’m sure Shara Bey would be proud of you for ruining her A-Wing like that,” Leia said stiffly. 

”Mom, please,” Ben said. “He didn’t know it would happen — blame the people who fired on him at least — ”

“There is that too,” Leia conceded. 

Poe felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. A sinking feeling, maybe like a black hole sucking everything in. Shara Bey’s A-Wing...it was one of those things he had left of his mother. It couldn’t just be gone. 

And yet, later, when he could stand, when he’d been patched up by the Yavin medic, he saw the wreckage of Shara Bey’s A-Wing...and he knew there was no retrieving. 

***

”You can’t just go,” Ben argued. 

They were in the hangar, away from Poe’s house for a change. It was a good thing that Kes was asleep, in the house that had felt like a prison to Poe at times. 

"You think I can stay here? People hate me,” Poe said. “It’s like...everywhere I turn, they expect me to be some sort of failure.”

”You’re not a failure!” Ben insisted, and there was so much faith in his voice that Poe was almost touched by it. Almost. Ben didn’t know who he really was. Ben saw someone who was wonderful, almost invincible. He had no idea. 

Poe sighed. “Your mom was right, at least,” he said. “My mom...she’d be disappointed in me.”

”Stop that,” Ben said. “Just stop!” A beat. “She wouldn’t be.”

Maybe. Maybe she would. 

”At least let me go with you,” Ben said. 

Poe looked at him, feeling a pang of sorrow go through him even despite himself. Ben deserved better than a friend like him. Ben deserved someone...better.

“Ben,” he said. “You need to stay behind. This time. They were willing to fire on me for trying to escape. I’m not putting you in danger too.”

”I won’t let you be alone!” 

Poe smiled faintly. “I won’t be,” he said. “Neither will you.”

He hugged Ben, before heading towards the shuttle that would let him depart Yavin IV. Starting up the ship was easy. Programming it to jump to hyperspace before it hit atmosphere...it would be something different. Still, his mother had told him stories about people who were able to jump to hyperspace from inside hangars. Never assume anything’s impossible, she once said. Never underestimate your own creativity. 

He fiddled with the controls, and when Poe hit hyperspace later, the blue lines engulfing him, he had faith that putting hyperspace lanes in between him and everyone else was the right decision. 


	2. Delia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe crash-lands on Kijimi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Kijimi. It wasn’t the ideal place to live, but Poe supposed that it would be a place to hide for a while, away from the family and friends that seemed to despise him. (Except Ben. Maybe in a way, Ben was too good for him. Maybe)

Even swooping in below the planet’s surface, Poe was amazed by the flurries of snow that seemed to be falling, blurring his vision on the viewscreen. His systems were beeping frantically, all but shrieking a warning, and even trying to get them back online —

He managed to think, _Oh kriff, not again_ before the ship crashed and Poe fell unconscious. 

***

”You’re lucky that you survived,” a woman’s voice said. “Anything worse and you would have been dead. At least you know how to make an entrance.”

Poe groaned even as his eyes fluttered open, even as he sat up and looked, really looked, at the woman wearing the scarf over her lower jaw. A thin layer, almost like one of those Old Republic Dark Jedi Ben had shown him pictures of in...better times. 

”I’m not usually a bad pilot,” he said. 

”I believe you,” said the woman. “I suppose we always needed recruits to our spice-running operation.”

”Spice running? Like...dealing?" Poe said. “Listen, lady — I’m not going along with killing people.”

”You’re not technically killing them.”

”Indirectly!” Poe said. 

”You’re assuming spice is used for addictive purposes.”

Poe frowned. “Isn’t it?”

”Spice can also have medical purposes,” the woman said. “To treat and heal. The addictive side-effects are a tragic result, but far from something within our control.” A beat. “Think of them like pills. They can be easily misused, but their purpose isn’t evil.”

”I...wasn’t really taught that.” Even in those R-Double-A presentations that Poe had at school, stuff that talked about how horrible addictive substances like spice were (complete with the song that went “It’s not a game; don’t pollute your brain!”), they hadn’t mentioned the idea that spice could have medicinal properties. 

Now that Poe thought about it, his anti-drug education had definitely had a lot of holes in it. 

”Of course not,” said the woman. “You think the Republic of all people would admit that they’re failing Kijimi?”

”The Republic’s not that bad!”

”So you’ve been told. And you should lie down, young one; you’ll only hurt that leg more.”

Poe supposed. 

The woman continued. “I’ve lived on Kijimi for years, and the Republic has never cared about us. The Empire either, but the Republic in particular. They argue like kath hounds over a scrap of meat, and if you’re not royalty of any sort, they couldn’t care less about you. The whole purpose of the Spice Runners of Kijimi...you could say we’re revolutionaries. Rescuers. Giving treatment to those who are poor, outcast, discarded by the Republic itself.”

Poe had to admit that the idea wasn’t completely unappealing to him. Maybe it should have been. The idea of smuggling drugs...but he was Poe Dameron, and from a young age he had a hypersensitive sense of empathy for others, wanting to help where he could. He and Ben both were, and Ben seemed to adore him for that. 

And the idea of giving treatments to those who were cast aside...well, Poe wasn’t about to just stand by while others suffered from maladies that could be treated, but weren’t, all because people didn’t care. 

”That...makes more sense.”

The woman nodded. “Are you interested in joining, young one?”

”I’m not that young.”

”How old are you?”

”Sixteen.”

”Awfully young,” said the woman. “Especially for someone who could join us. Who could make things better.”

Poe found that in the end, he couldn’t just turn his back on everybody who needed him. So he nodded. “I’m not following you, though,” he said. “Just the cause.”

***

Zorii Bliss was his partner. According to the woman who’d recruited him — Delia was her name, Delia Glass — Bliss was a name she’d adopted for herself. “She doesn’t have good memories of her last name,” Delia said. 

Poe had to admit that Zorii, who was a year older than him — seventeen — was striking in appearance, with her curly dark hair and expressive dark eyes. He couldn’t say if he swung towards women (even seeing pictures of cleavage, he didn’t see what the deal was), but she was pretty, he had to admit. Even if she looked like life had put her through the garbage chute. 

”So you’re Dameron,” Zorii said. “Mr. Playing-Hero.”

”What’s wrong with that?” Poe said. 

Zorii shrugged. “You’re probably gonna change your tune when you spend enough time here, Spice Runner.”

”How’d you end up here?”

Zorii’s eyes looked distant for a while. Then, “My parents were the worst. Can we leave it at that?”

”Okay.” There was more to it than that, right? Still, Poe didn’t want to pry, especially when she clearly wasn’t happy. 

It made Poe wonder if his issues with his father were trivial in comparison. Depending on what Zorii meant. 

"Delia...she’ll take care of you,” Zorii said even as they headed up towards the apartment they shared, the apartment Delia had rented out for them. "She did for me.”

Poe could only hope. 


	3. I Will Follow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

“How could you say what you did to him, Mom?”

Ben faced his mother, in a sunny kitchen, already feeling like he was some sort of defender of Poe’s honor. Whatever Poe had said to Kes Dameron, he didn’t deserve to be blamed for some lunatic firing on a child, of all people. 

A child. How could anyone defend that?

”Ben,” Leia said, “What I said was wrong — ”

”You _think_?” Ben snapped. “Next thing you know, you’ll be saying it’s wrong to poke a reek!”

”Ben, please,” Han cajoled. 

Ben was undeterred. “He’s a wonderful person,” he said, and he was surprised at the vehemence in his voice. “He’s a caring, kind person and he deserves so much more than having his dream smothered by someone who can’t let the past die, and then ridiculed and blamed for being nearly murdered! No wonder he ran away; he deserves better than people who ridicule and devalue him to make themselves feel more righteous. You don’t know him. You don’t even care about him. No one does but me.”

He stormed out, ran towards the Grimtaash. Practically flew there. Even as GeeGee looked up, he said, “Master Ben — ”

“Long story, GeeGee, we’re leaving.”

Ben started up the Grimtaash then, and blasted off. He flew. And flew forever. 

_They probably don’t care about where you’ve gone,_ the Voice said. 

Ben’s shoulders slumped. Maybe the Voice was right. There had been a part of him, an egotistical part, that had wanted someone to follow him — but he needed to find Poe. Bring him home.

 _You think bringing him home to people who devalue him is a good idea_?

Ben sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he said. 

_Sometimes the truth includes things people are too_ polite _to bring up_. 

Ben wanted to object, but he thought of all these things in his family, things like his mysterious grandfather and more, things his family was too _polite_ to talk about.

“I need to find Poe,” Ben said. “I want him safe. My best friend. Protected from everyone in the galaxy who wants to do him harm.”

_You could very well run away from the Jedi Order. Poe would only weigh you down.  
_

”No!” Ben said. “Poe’s...he’s everything to me and he only sees me as a little boy.”

 _When you could hold the galaxy in the palm of your hand._

Ben swallowed. 

_If you were a wayward teen, where would you hide_?

Ben sighed. “I guess I better start looking.”


End file.
